I really want to move and go outside and enjoy this fabulous weather, but my body is just not having it.

I spent the entire weekend with Bryan Kest at a yoga workshop. This meant 5 solid hours of intensive power yoga yesterday, and another 3 hours today.

The five hours yesterday weren't all in a row. It was broken up into two 2.5 hour sessions.

Bryan Kest is my yoga hero. I've been doing his videos for years. When I heard he was coming to Philadelphia, I became incredibly excited... until I found out that the workshop was full. I contacted the studio and asked to be put on the waiting list. This past week, they called me to let me know that there was a cancellation, and was I still interested?

Yes, yes, yes! A thousand times, yes!

I paid my money and they registered me for the workshop.

I hadn't been excited about something in a really long time. I used to get excited about going on hikes or climbing. Maybe I've become desensitized.

Because of my excitement, I had trouble eating on Saturday morning. I couldn't finish more than half my oatmeal. By the time I got to the studio, I was already low on calories.

I saw him right away and rather than being star-struck, I was struck with his ordinary-ness. I don't mean that negatively, of course. I love being ordinary, myself.

The best thing about this, and the best thing about him (which is why I am a fan in the first place) is that he made the entire experience about the yoga. This is not about ego or an individual; it's about the yoga.

When we got into the physical movements, I was feeling fatigued and shaking almost immediately because of my low blood sugar. After awhile, my body adjusted, but still, the entire thing was incredibly strenuous.

There were about 50 people there and the overwhelming majority were yoga instructors. Just within the first few poses, I was already impressed with the strength and flexibility of every person there.

You know how sometimes, you might accidentally see someone display a impressive level of strength and flexibility and it's not all that notable because it just happens that you run into the occasional person in society that trains a lot? It's completely something else to see 50 people displaying an impressive level of strength and flexibility all at once. Wow.

Despite the fact that everyone there was impressively strong and bendy, we were all working hard and getting fatigued. Water was running down the walls from all the perspiration. This isn't what is called Hot Yoga. We warmed up the room ourselves.

It was a really amazing experience. I perspired approximately 5 gallons. I'm usually not someone who perspires a lot. The last time I perspired to that extent was in a sauna, and I didn't stay there for 5 hours straight.

As for my body, it's not doing a damn thing the rest of the day. As a matter of fact, it's pretty close to declaring mutiny and leaving me. What will I do without a body? Maybe be much happier.

I gave it food and water. I showered it, and now I'm letting it just sit.

Anyway, during the past several weeks, I've been flirting with the idea of becoming a yoga teacher. Last night, after I blathered on about what an amazing experience I had, Adam asked me if this increased my desire to teach yoga.

I laughed and said no, it made me less likely to want to teach.

I do occasionally have to teach in karate and the one thing teaching means is that I don't get to train. I don't get to train to the level of my satisfaction, anyway. Teaching yoga probably means something similar.

I don't know if I'd be a good teacher, either, but I do know that I could probably become good at it. I would like to help people more, too. That's important to me, but there are so many times when I feel like I can barely help myself, let alone anyone else.

This showed me that I do want to practice more. If I go into teacher training, I will probably have to take a break from karate. I'm just finally starting to get my groove back in karate, and I want to stop again?

My body. Oh, my body. I don't remember the last time I was this sore.

0 comments so far

Sunday, Apr. 19, 2009 at 3:23 PM